Artists, crafters open up their studios

September 26, 2013

SARANAC LAKE - The seventh annual Artist at Work Studio Tour kicks off this weekend with studios open Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

With the annual Tour Guide booklet, as well as the Saranac Lake ArtWorks website, visitors will be able to plan out individualized routes that can take them through the colorful foliage of the Adirondack autumn from Saranac Lake to Paul Smiths or Lake Placid, through Wilmington and Jay, and all the way to Au Sable Forks to see what artists are up to in their studios.

The Tour Guide booklets are now available at the Adirondack Artists Guild, NorthWind Fine Arts gallery, and many other businesses in the northern Adirondacks. The booklet is also located in a digital version at SaranacLakeArtWorks.com/StudioTour.

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Winters recently accompanied a reporter from North Country Public Radio (the Studio Tour media sponsor) on a short studio tour for broadcast this week.

"The diversity, dedication, and skill-levels of the artists participating in this year's Tour are impressive. Visiting even a few of the dozens of studios and Artist Outposts will be inspiring and educational," Studio Tour Coordinator Cris Winters said.

The tour features potters; oil, acrylic, pastel, charcoal, and watercolor painters; collage artists; fiber artists; and photographers. In and near Jay and Wilmington, there is a wide variety of studios and galleries, ranging from pottery to print making. Not far from Jay, the Tahawas Lodge Center Gallery in Ausable Forks, will host a photographic exhibition.

The three Artist Outposts each feature several artists working from their mobile studios. At these venues, visitors will be treated to maximum viewing of the artistic process all in one location. At the Lake Placid Center for the Arts, three artists will show work that includes watercolor, acrylic, and oil painting and copper jewelry. The five artists at Paul Smith's College VIC include oil and acrylic painters (including a plein air painter); a nature photographer; and a glass artist. (On Saturday, visitors will also participate in the Homesteading Festival at the PSC VIC. A small fee will be charged that day only.)

At the Adirondack Carousel in Saranac Lake, there will be a wood carver and oil and mixed media painters.

In addition to the artists at the LPCA, artists on the tour in Lake Placid include a nature photographer in his Newman Road studio and a watercolor artist at the Lake Placid Library on Main Street. And scattered along the northern edge of the tour there are many artists from Sugarbush to Paul Smiths.